Well I am new to this forum and I was happy to see so many Krav enthusiasts here!

I think the point you made about "Liability" is interesting. I have been training in Krav Maga with Darren Levine for a few years now and I have never heard him mention the liability aspect in a civilian class.

It has been mentioned in Law Enforcement training however, but the liability is more of a police issue. Civilians are not expected to carry OC Spray, batons, Tasers, etc. or even have the training to know when and where to use them. Police are held to different standards in regards to use of force because of their training and experience.

It doesn’t mean that you won’t get sued, however at least you will be alive to fight that in court. You do have the right to defend yourself regardless, but I do agree there is a sue-happy aspect of our culture and it does play a role in how some approach self-defense.

Hi to you all from Scotland. I am a new Krav maga instructor with the IKMF. There are only 5 of us in the whole of scotland so its pretty virgin territory for this relatively unheard of style in this area. no matter what organisation you are with , there will always be variations, so long as the core is the same -- get home safe -- then it doesnt matter how the syllabus is arranged.

For instance when teaching stick defense an instructor should not strike the attacker with the stick in front of the class unless the instructor backs away and the attacker confronts him/her again. Of course if a guy attacks me with a stick I am going to shove it down his throat. But for liability sake we should not show our students this.

I am a licensed Krav Maga instructor. I was licensed in LA and I think that I can shed a little light on this issue. Krav Maga as you all know is one of the most aggressive systems on the market and we have been getting a lot of attention in the media lately. This is not an accident as it happens. The L.A. style of teaching is very different from that of the IKMF. There are reasons for this and they are really quite simple.

LIABILITY!

I know Mr. Levine as well as Mr. John Whitman. In America we live in one of the most litigious societies in the world. Mr.Levine is the Assistant District Attorney in Los Angeles. He is a lawyer folks. If anyone knows about liability trust me he does. This is why many of the techniques in the first 3 phases of Krav Maga are basic in nature. If a student gets into a confrontation and the other person is injured badly, regardless of fault the injury sustained is an issue in a civil proceeding. So to curtail the liability the program is scaled back at lower levels.

However once you grow in the system you will see many of the things from Grandmaster Imi's original text. Also many people tend to forget that the symbol of Krav Maga is purposely designed with a circle at either side of the Hebrew K and M. This represents the philosophy of openess. The system is constantly changing and therefore must remain open to interpretation.

Lastly,

Obviously the typical American citizen does not face the risks or dangers that our counterparts in Israel face. Training civilians in the same manner that soldiers are trained will no doubt leave the trainer in a position of vunerability when it comes to liability.

I hope this helps.

Than would you agree that the Krav taught in LA varies from the IMMA AND IKMF due to the legal aspect?

Whether the issue is liability(and I agree to a point) the LA's curriculum is different than the one used by the IKMA and IKMF.

The fact is that there is liability in any type of MA of Self defense you teach.

If a guy messes with me and I gouge out his eye, that's his problem not mine.

Quote:Hi to you all from Scotland. I am a new Krav maga instructor with the IKMF. There are only 5 of us in the whole of scotland so its pretty virgin territory for this relatively unheard of style in this area. no matter what organisation you are with , there will always be variations, so long as the core is the same -- get home safe -- then it doesnt matter how the syllabus is arranged.

Well, considering that for centuries the Scots have been considered the "Heavy Infantry" of the UK, a Scottish Krav Instructor must be regarded on the same level as a Main Battle Tank.....

Also, do you train in Utili-Kilts? Cuz that would be awesome!

_________________________"If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough."

I did my Instructor course with Hiam Gidon IKMA in July 2005 in Israel. Before I did KM in Ireland under a IKMF guy...but he changed the IKMF KM and added in his own stuff from Jim Weagner RBSD and Combatives...so it was not true KM.

Anyway... I was very impressed with skill in IKMA and David Kahn was on the course too, and is excellent...but the Israeli guys are better even. look on www.realfighting.com and look back for an interview with a IKMA guy called Yigal... now he is real amazing!

Basically all the material in David Kahns books is the yellow belt requirements and some of orange belt in IKMA...so if you go through his book and can do all of what is there really good...you get a yellow belt only! so from this take it the standard is pretty high.

Me, I am more into Muay Thai as I live in Thailand now...but I am started to teach KM with Combatives and other RBSD stuff...so I am sort of independent. I would rather do that, than be invloved in politics etc...

I'm looking for Krav training videos, but I really want to avoid the LA based training (don't mean to offend anyone, it's just my preference after spending hours looking into it on the internet). Anyone have a info on where to get said videos? Also, I'm located in Michigan..my search shows schools that seem to be LA affiliates. Any schools nearby that aren't (schools in surrounding states would be ok too)?

I'm curious as to other people's view of the dual student/instructor track in Krav Maga.

At the school I was in, (Krav enthuasiast for 4 1/2 years), the students were in a track that involved progession through successively harder levels (Levels 1-4)

However, the instructors were under an abbreviated separate track. That shortened program was not easy and they all had to go through rigorous phase training in Los Angeles, then return as instructors.

In other martial arts, instructors were typically the senior people in the dojo. However, Krav's system enabled fairly junior people to be the instructors. (It was not uncommmon for the instructor of the higher level classes to be the most junior person in the room.)

Though the standardization brought on by the instructor training in LA is good for the entire system, this dual track system sort of established two separate groups in the school. You were either in the instructor track or the student track.

Because the instructors (in general) hadn't progressed through as junior and then senior students, they didn't have the shared experiences of the people they were teaching. (Again, this is a generalization because a couple of the instructors were very experienced and outstanding in disciplines other than Krav.)